Destination: World

 
Twenty-nine new articles have been added to Leisuretourism.com in the last month. The biggest focus was on the H1N1 influenza outbreak originating in Mexico (popularly known as 'swine flu'), which severely impacted the life of that country as well as it's tourism industry, while also raising fears for the global travel industry if the outbreak turned into a serious pandemic. Fortunately, at the time of writing this email the situation seems to have stabilised: the UK is among the countries to lift travel restrictions to Mexico this week, while Carnival Cruise Lines is to return to Mexico after travel advisories against non-essential travel to the country were lifted. The Global Travel and Tourism Summit in Florianopolis, Brazil has also issued a 'keep travelling' message after new data showed that if a global swine flu pandemic took hold it could cause GDP losses of nearly US$2.2 trillion to the tourism economy spread over late 2009 and into 2010.
 
"We are overacting and we are over-informing," said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel & Tourism Council, at the Brazil meeting.
 
Here at Leisuretourism.com we have been giving a balanced view of the situation, reporting on the economic impact of the influenza outbreak to Mexico, and the effects on the travel and tourism industries there, while assessing the possible global impact and highlighting research on subjects such as border screening for fever. Should there be any further major developments, the Leisuretourism website will continue to post updates and analysis.
 
Away from the flu outbreak, destinations covered on Leisuretourism.com include Thailand, Kenya, the Caribbean, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK. In Kenya, we reported on plans to market new tourism circuits, while in the Caribbean the focus was the impact of the global economy on tourism in two new articles. Zimbabwe has seen a lifting of travel warnings from a number of countries this year, and we look at the prospects for a tourism revival. Tourism niches featured in the last month include casino tourism in Louisiana, trophy hunting in Namibia, and heritage tourism in Wales and Scotland.
 
Research featured in the last month includes a paper on pro-poor interventions in the tourism value chain, Sudden Athlete Death, sustainable tourism in remote regions, and a report on climate change and winter sports in Canada. In other topics, we look at funding for the arts in recessionary times, human resources issues in the travel and hospitality industries, website functionality and internet search behaviour of hotel customers, and the effects of the economy on theme parks. Hotel service quality, bathing quality of beaches, and the claimed benefits of losing Olympic bids, are among other subjects discussed.
 
Also included in this email are information on updates to the website calendar section, and a selection of bibliographic records from the database, this month looking at various issues relating to disease outbreaks and travel, including border screening for diseases and the lessons learned from SARS. We also feature a CABI book on Agritourism, published in April.
 
We hope you find this email of interest, and thank you for your support of Leisuretourism.com
 
Kind regards
David Simpson, Leisuretourism.com Content Manager
Email: d.simpson@cabi.org
 
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This months contents
 
1. In brief/In depth articles
2. Forthcoming events added to the calendar
3. From the CABI bookstore
4. Unsubscribe information
5. Featured abstracts
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1. New 'In Brief and In Depth' articles
 
A selection of headlines from articles added over the last month. These reports and many more (now totalling around 1900 articles, and fully searchable) are available in full to website subscribers via the Leisuretourism.com articles pages <> .
 
1.   How does leadership style affect hotel service quality?
 
The impact of management style on service quality commitment among front-line hotel staff is examined in a paper published in the May 2009 issue of Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. Clark, Hartline and Jones surveyed 743 employees in 199 hotels and concluded that when managers demonstrate an empowering leadership style, they create an environment that leads employees to share the organization's values - thereby improving service. The study matched up managers' and employees' views about their hotel's commitment to quality. In addition, the researchers asked employees about their shared values, role clarity, and job satisfaction. They found that a directive leadership approach fails to drive service quality. It is suggested that directive leadership (defined as "telling employees what they are expected to do, how to do it, when it is to be done and how their work fits in with that of others") is incompatible with the requirements of the hotel environment due to its autocratic nature and inability to engender service values among employees. On the other hand, an empowering leadership style (giving employees the authority and autonomy to exercise control over decisions) promotes the shared values that are critical for service excellence.
 
2.   Report: Climate change and winter sports in Canada
 
A report from the David Suzuki Foundation (Bruce, 2009) examines how decisions in response to global warming, including choices to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and implement adaptive measures, will ultimately affect the future of winter sports and the role they play as part of Canada's identity, natural heritage and economy. It looks at two global warming scenarios: a lower-warming and a high-warming scenario. However, even the lower-warming (lower-emission) scenario is very likely to cause the global average temperature to rise more than 2°C from pre-industrial levels. The vulnerability of winter sports is examined, concluding with recommendations about how winter sports stakeholders can take action on climate change and begin to adapt to the changes in Canadian winters already underway.
 
3.   Does website usability hit bookings?
 
A recent survey by Merrill Lynch suggested that that 45% of hotel bookings will be made online by the year 2010. But how user-friendly are hospitality websites that make the bookings, and could changes be made to improve their effectiveness? A report by iPerception claims that visitors have real trouble completing basic tasks at hospitality sites. Most noticeably, 1 of every 2 visitors who came to a site to make a reservation reported being unable to do so.
 
4.    South Africa releases first Tourism Satellite Accounting
 
Tourism directly contributed 3% to gross domestic product (GDP) and employed more than 500,000 people in 2005, the inaugural Tourism Satellite Account, launched at the 2009 Tourism Indaba in Durban, shows. The satellite account is a United Nations (UN) World Travel Organisation-approved tool that measures the full effect of tourism on the country's economy. Currently tourism, which cuts across many sectors of the economy, is estimated to have an overall contribution of about 8.4% of GDP. Didi Moyle, acting CEO of SA Tourism, welcomed the launch of the satellite account, saying that this is the first step and provided a base year from which later reports would flow. The next report is expected in two to three years. "This will allow us to measure our global competitiveness, which we have never been able to do before," said Moyle.
 
5.   Featured paper: Can tourism in remote regions be sustainable?
 
In many destinations, the natural environment is a critical element of tourism appeal. Therefore, in such areas sustainable tourism development needs to not only provide good economic returns and a high quality visitor experience, but protect the natural environment it depends on. A paper by Larson and Herr (2008), now indexed on our database, investigates visitor and host resident perceptions of all three aspects of sustainable tourism: quality of tourism experience; tourism activities impacting natural environment; and tourism activities impacting host residents, for North Kimberley, a nature-based self-drive tourism destination in a remote part of Western Australia.
 
6.     Wales and Scotland aim to boost heritage tourism
 
The Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament have both recently announced funding targeted at boosting heritage tourism. In Wales, a £19m project to boost the contribution tourism at heritage sites makes to the Welsh economy has been announced by the assembly government. And in Scotland, there are plans to restore more castles and other historic buildings. The Welsh project was announced on 1 May by Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones. Half of the £19m funding is provided by EU Convergence Funds, with most of the rest coming from the Welsh Assembly. The aim is to maximise the economic value of heritage through increasing the volume, length and value of visits to Wales. By developing trails and events at heritage sites, it is hoped communities around them will benefit economically from the tourists attracted.
 
7.    Research feature: Fever screening during epidemics
 
The World Health Organisation said this that the outbreak of swine flu which originated in Mexico could no longer be contained. But while some countries are doing little to check travellers from countries where the virus is present, others have implemented screening systems to identify travellers with a temperature. Most evidence, however, suggests that fever screening has limited effectiveness in stopping the spread of disease by international travel during epidemics. A paper published in February 2009 by Bitar et al. in Eurosurveillance reviewed the evidence. The authors performed a Medline search on literature from 1975 to August 2008, to find the literature on fever screening by non-contact infrared thermometers (NCIT), introduced at some international airports during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003. The screening method has also been tested for other diseases which cause fever, such as the dengue virus, and has been suggested as a way of delaying the introduction of a novel influenza strain, such as the one causing concern at the moment. Bitar et al. reviewed the existing studies on fever screening by NCIT to estimate their efficacy under the hypothesis of pandemic influenza.
 
8.    Summit addresses human resources issues
 
The Qatar Summit of the UNWTO has identified the key issues facing tourism human resources in the region and has worked towards a common agenda for tourism human resources to enhance the competitiveness of the region's destination. Addressing the human resource for tourism the United Nations World Organisation Tourism summit, organized by Qatar Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, took place from April 21st to April 22nd. According to the January 2009 issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, in 2008, international tourist arrivals worldwide increased by 2%. The Middle East registered the best performance among all world regions with 11% growth in international tourist arrivals in 2008 over the previous year. Based on passenger traffic data from worldwide airports for the first two months of 2009, it appears that of all the world regions, the Middle East is the least affected by the global crisis thus far. It was the only region with a positive traffic growth of 3.1%.
 
9.    Featured paper: sudden athlete death
 
Moderate exercise is good for us, and public health campaigns try and persuade people to exercise several times a week. But among competitive athletes, sudden deaths are a rare, but often highly publicised, occurrence. Added to the Leisuretourism.com database this week is an analysis of 1866 sudden deaths of young competitive athletes in the United States between 1980 and 2006. The results can be used to provide information to the debate on screening programmes to try and detect people at risk during intensive exercise. The paper by Maron et al. (2009) looked at athletes who either died suddenly or survived cardiac arrest, between the ages of 13 and 25. The athletes participated in 38 different sports. Sudden deaths were predominantly due to cardiovascular disease (1049 [56%]), but causes also included blunt trauma that caused structural damage (416 [22%]), commotio cordis (65 [3%]), and heat stroke (46 [2%]).
 
10.    Olympic bids - is it best to lose?
 
Governments often go to enormous trouble and expense to secure the right to host the Olympic Games. But there has been a long-standing debate as to whether there is any benefit to the economy and tourism from hosting a Games, with the arguments and research being reported in many previous articles here on Leisuretourism.com. Many economists are skeptical about the economic benefits of hosting "mega-events" such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup, since such activities have considerable cost and seem to yield few tangible benefits. A new study suggests that there may indeed be economic benefits from the Olympics - but that the same benefits apply to losing bids. Using a statistical model, Andrew Rose of the Haas School of Business at the University of California and Mark Spiegel of the San Francisco Federal Reserve show that the 30% uplift in exports enjoyed by successful bidders is shared by countries that lose out - and they don't have to spend billions on athletics tracks and velodromes.
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2. Forthcoming events added to the calendar
 
A number of events have been added to the website calendar this month, including:-
 
2009, July 9 - 12
Conference:  15th Asia Pacific Tourism Association Annual Conference. Emerging Tourism and Hospitality Trends
Venue:   Incheon, Republic of Korea
Website:  http://www.apta.asia/apta2009.aspx
Email:  dryeong@dau.ac.kr
 
2009, December 8 - 11
Conference:  1st International Tourism Conference. Beyond the Boundary: creating new epistemologies in tourism
Venue:  Bridgetown, Barbados
Website: http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/fss/tourism_conference2009/
Email:  sherma.roberts@cavehill.uwi.edu
 
2009, December 11 - 13
Conference: Second Biennial Conference of the International Association for Tourism Economics
Venue:  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Website:  http://www.iate2009.org/ <>
 
2010, April 22 - 25
Conference: International Conference on Sustainable Tourism: Issues, Debates & Challenges
Venue:   Crete & Santorini, Greece
Website:  http://sustainablecrete.com/ <>
Email:  marsot@sdo.teiher.gr <>
 
 
For a complete listing of events, please visit the site calendar pages <> .
 
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3. From the CABI bookstore
 
The featured title this month is a new book on Agritourism, published in April 2009. For a full list of CABI books on leisure and tourism, click here <> .
 
 
Agritourism
 
by M Sznajder, University of Life Sciences, Poland; L Przezborska, University of Life Sciences, Poland; F Scrimgeour, University of Waikato, New Zealand
 
Hardback
Pub Date: April 2009
ISBN: 9781845934828
304 pages
£75.00 /  $150.00  /  €115.00
 
Main Description
 
Agritourism describes the activity of holidaymaking in rural areas, specifically for those seeking a rural experience. Activities can include wine tours, outdoor sports, participation in the rural lifestyle and local community, enjoyment of the natural environment and the opportunity to enjoy truly locally produced food. Agritourism forms a significant proportion of the tourism sector, and its growth is set to continue in both developed and developing countries.
 
The authors present the depth and variety of agritourism practiced around the world and cover all aspects of the economics and organization of agritourism. Topics discussed include agricultural economics, rural development, marketing, rural policy, different products and services available and the characteristics of agritourists.
 
For details, click this link. <>  If the full link does not display properly in your email client, try cutting and pasting the link into your web browser.
 
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4. Unsubscribe information
 
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5. Featured abstracts
 
Subscribers to Leisuretourism.com have access to the abstracts database containing over 94,000 bibliographic references on leisure, recreation, sport, tourism and hospitality activities, facilities, products and services. This month, in light of the H1N1 influenza outbreak from Mexico now found in over 30 countries, we feature a selection of records on travel and disease epidemics.
 
English title:             Screening for fever by remote-sensing infrared thermographic camera.
Bibliographic data:     Chan LungSang , Cheung, G. T. Y. , Lauder, I. J. , Kumana, C. R. / Journal of Travel Medicine, 2004, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp. 273-279, 24 ref.
Abstract:                       Background: Following the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, remote-sensing infrared thermography (IRT) has been advocated as a possible means of screening for fever in travellers at airports and border crossings, but its applicability has not been established. We therefore set out to evaluate (1) the feasibility of IRT imaging to identify subjects with fever, and (2) the optimal instrumental configuration and validity for such testing. Methods: Over a 20-day inclusive period, 176 subjects (49 hospital inpatients without SARS or suspected SARS, 99 health clinic attendees and 28 healthy volunteers) from Hong Kong, China were recruited [date not given]. Remotely sensed IRT readings were obtained from various parts of the front and side of the face (at distances of 1.5 and 0.5 m), and compared to concurrently determined body temperature measurements using conventional means (aural tympanic IRT and oral mercury thermometry). The resulting data were submitted to linear regression/correlation and sensitivity analyses. All recruits gave prior informed consent and our Faculty Institutional Review Board approved the protocol. Results: Optimal correlations were found between conventionally measured body temperatures and IRT readings from (1) the front of the face at 1.5 m with the mouth open (r=0.80), (2) the ear at 0.5 m (r=0.79), and (3) the side of the face at 1.5 m (r=0.76). Average IRT readings from the forehead and elsewhere were 1 deg C to 2 deg C lower and correlated less well. Ear IRT readings at 0.5 m yielded the narrowest confidence intervals and could be used to predict conventional body temperature readings of more than or equal to 38 deg C with a sensitivity and specificity of 83% and 88% respectively. Conclusions: IRT readings from the side of the face, especially from the ear at 0.5 m, yielded the most reliable, precise and consistent estimates of conventionally determined body temperatures. Our results have important implications for walk-through IRT scanning/screening systems at airports and border crossings, particularly as the point prevalence of fever in such subjects would be very low.
 
English title:                 Thermal image scanners to detect fever in airline passengers, Vancouver and Toronto, 2003.
Bibliographic data:       Canada, Health Canada / Canada Communicable Disease Report, 2004, Vol. 30, No. 19, pp. 165-167, 7 ref.
Abstract:                        This report summarizes data collected on the use of thermal image scanners deployed to 2 airports in Canada between May and mid-December 2003, in an effort to prevent the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Elevated temperature was detected in 1435 people. No person was assessed as having SARS.
 
English title:              Evaluation of measures to reduce international spread of SARS.
Bibliographic data:    Glass, K. , Becker, N. G. / Epidemiology and Infection, 2006, Vol. 134, No. 5, pp. 1092-1101, 15 ref.
Abstract:                      Mathematical models are used to quantify the effect of border control measures in reducing the international spread of SARS. Border screening is shown to play a relatively minor role in reducing disease spread. Assuming detection rates similar to those reported for arrival screening in Australia, screening can detect up to 10% (95% CI 3-23) of infected travellers, and reduce the probability of a large outbreak by up to 7% (95% CI 2-17). Rapid reductions in the time to diagnosis and effective facilities for the isolation of cases are essential to ensure that there will not be a large outbreak, and each week of delay in responding to imported infection approximately doubles the total number of cases. While the control response is being developed in a currently uninfected region, border screening can provide up to one week's additional time in which to improve methods for early isolation of cases.
 
English title:                  Assessing impacts of SARS and Avian Flu on international tourism demand to Asia.
Bibliographic data:     Kuo HsiaoI , Chen ChiChung , Tseng WeiChun , Ju LanFen , Huang BingWen / Tourism Management, 2008, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 917-928, 33 ref.
Abstract:                        The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of infectious diseases including Avian Flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome (hereafter SARS) on international tourist arrivals in Asian countries using both single datasets and panel data procedures. An autoregressive moving average model together with an exogenous variables (ARMAX) model are used to estimate the effects of these diseases in each SARS- and Avian Flu-infected country, while a dynamic panel model is adopted to estimate the overall impact on the region of these two diseases. The empirical results from both approaches are consistent and indicate that the numbers of affected cases have a significant impact on SARS-affected countries but not on Avian Flu-affected countries. However, since the potential damage arising from the Avian Flu and subsequent pandemic influenza is much greater than that resulting from the SARS, the need to take the necessary precautions in the event of an outbreak of Avian Flu and pandemic influenza warrants further attention and action. Therefore, the empirical findings of this study could add to the knowledge regarding the relationship between tourism and crisis management, especially in so far as the management of transmissible diseases is concerned.
 
English title:                Bird flu: if or when? Planning for the next pandemic.
Bibliographic data:    Sellwood, C. , Asgari-Jirhandeh, N. , Salimee, S. / Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2007, Vol. 83, No. 981, pp. 445-450
Abstract:                     Avian influenza or "bird flu" is causing increasing concern across the world as experts prepare for the possible occurrence of the next human influenza pandemic. Only influenza A has ever been shown to have the capacity to cause pandemics. Currently A/H5N1, a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, is of particular concern. Outbreaks of this disease in birds, especially domestic poultry, have been detected across Southeast Asia at regular intervals since 2003, and have now affected parts of Africa and Europe. Many unaffected countries across the world are preparing for the possible arrival of HPAI A/H5N1 in wild birds and poultry within their territories. All such countries need to prepare for the rare possibility of a small number of human cases of HPAI A/H5N1, imported through foreign travel. Although it is by no means certain that HPAI A/H5N1 will be the source of the next pandemic, many countries are also preparing for the inevitable occurrence of human pandemic influenza.
 
English title:                Second international avian and human influenza simulation exercise.
Bibliographic data:   World Tourism Organization / Second International avian and human influenza simulation exercise, Jakarta, Indonesia, 24-25 July, 2007, 2007, pp. iii + 63
Abstract:                      The second international avian and human influenza (AHI) simulation exercise held in Jakarta, Indonesia, aimed at testing national pandemic plans with a focus on the national and international travel and tourism sector. Special attention was given to interdependencies at the international level including stakeholders groups such as national governments, the private sector, the media, International Organization and the travelers. The simulation was conducted with more than 80 representatives from government and the intergovernmental and private sector of Asia, the Pacific and Oceania. The results of the second international simulation exercise showed that the procedures and structures improve through regular trainings, especially for events with lower frequencies, as it has been seen from other emergency situations. In addition to verifying the mechanisms and procedures in place and enhancing them, it was important to identify the areas where further resources, analysis and coordination should be directed at. This is of utmost importance for the tourism sector which is directly exposed, unlike other sectors, to negative events and, has usually little lead time after the occurrence of a threatening event for reaction. A core issue of the simulation exercise was the necessity to ensure consistency of communications across the different levels and constituents. A separate UN inter-agency simulation exercise also considered this point as a core issue of the simulation. During this second UNWTO simulation exercise, the improving mechanisms among international organizations were considered as of immediate benefit for the participants. It became clear that the information flows between Ministries of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) were well known, even to the participants who are not in regular contact with institutions of the health sector. On the other hand however, it transpired at the beginning of the exercise that information flows in other areas, and in tourism in particular, although considered logical and efficient, were not as well known. Strengthening the knowledge of these mechanisms helps to avoid crucial lines of information being overloaded while others are not made use of during a crisis situation. The constantly repeated intention of many stakeholders, especially of those outside the health sector, to directly contact the WHO is one of the core challenges to overcome in the near future and, to ensure better coordination and reaction capability. The instruments for improving fast and sincere reporting were already identified during the previous simulation exercise as an important point, especially for the tourism sector. Preparations were made this time beforehand to address this issue, because of its importance, in a workshop for which a separate report is issued. After having focused on the specific problems of an escalating pandemic, the next international simulation will put special emphasis on the recovery aspects of a Pandemic.
 
 
David Simpson
Editor Leisuretourism.com
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